“Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Coming Home” by Amy Dickinson

Adulthood is carved from experience. No one can really teach you how to be a parent, get divorced, fall in love again, become a stepparent and survive the death of a parent. These are all things that require on-the-job training, quick thinking, a sense of humor and gut-wrenching perseverance. These have been life-changing experiences in my own journey, and they are the themes in Amy Dickinson’s beautifully written memoir “Strangers Tend to Tell Me Things.” Amy is a nationally syndicated advice columnist. Her “Ask Amy” column I often read in my local paper, the Marin Independent Journal. She is smart, funny, wise, and practical, in a no-nonsense way, like you want your best friend to be. Amy got married, had a baby girl, got divorced, went back to the tiny New York town where she grew up, fell in love with a man she knew in high school, and then lost her mother. These things happen to many people, and I have to say these events can be filled with joy and struggle. But Amy writes about them in an empowering way, not pitiful at all. Life happens. Some good things and some terrible things, but you keep going. Life is messy and there is grace in figuring out how to survive it all. After reading this book I wrote to Amy on Facebook and was beyond impressed that she wrote me back the same day. Clearly, she is an organized person. I told her I found her book, particularly the part about marrying and becoming a stepparent, very inspiring.  She said thank you and asked me to write a review of it on Amazon, which I was more than happy to do. Spreading the word about her lovely memoir was the least I could do for this wonderful author who made me appreciate my modern life. To purchase this book on Amazon click here.